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Show Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 Page 2 World&Nation Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com ClarifyCorrect The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu Obama: G-20 brought economy back from brink PITTSBURGH (AP) – World leaders on Friday issued sweeping promises to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns. President Barack Obama said actions taken so far “brought the global economy back from the brink.” “We leave here today confiNEW YORK – “Saturday dent and united,” Obama said Night Live” has started the at the conclusion of a two-day season with a bang, or, more gathering of the world’s 20 top precisely, an F-bomb. economies to deal with the worst Newcomer financial crisis since the 1930s. Jenny Slate The leaders agreed to keep let the dreaded stimulus plans, which include word slip durgovernment spending and low ing a parody of interest rates, generally in place a talk show by in their respective countries biker women. Slate for now to avoid derailing still“You know fragile recoveries. Obama had what? You stood up for yourpressed for just such a course self,” she declared, “and I and praised the decision. (expletive) love you for that.” “Our coordinated stimulus plans played an indispensable role in averting catastrophe. Now we must make sure that when growth returns, jobs do, Iran test fires too,” he said at a wrap-up news short-range missiles conference. “That’s why we will TEHRAN (AP) – State televi- continue our stimulus efforts until our people are back to sion says Iran test-fired shortwork and phase them out when range missiles during drills by our recovery is strong.” the elite Revolutionary Guard. In a statement, all the G-20 English-language Press TV leaders declared major progress reported that the missiles tested from what they called their coorwere the Fateh-110 and Tondardinated efforts and “forceful 69, but did not give specifics on response.” the range or other details. “It worked,” they said. Iran has had the solid-fuel Although many of the proFateh missile, with a range of nouncements and actions taken 120 miles (193 kilometers), for by the leaders lacked specifics or several years. details on follow-through, leadPress TV quoted a ers were bold in pronouncing Revolutionary Guard spokesman the gathering – the third G-20 saying Saturday that the exercises would involve simultaneous and consecutive launches of missiles fired at mock targets. Celebs&People NewsBriefs LateNiteHumor Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 – Top 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Spending $63,500 On Dinner With Sarah Palin. 10. “Is the tip included?” 9. “Do my kids really need to go to college?” 8. “Is it ‘All the Moose You Can Eat’?” 7. “Should I prepare by reading every magazine and newspaper?” 6. “Does it have to be at the Denny’s where Todd works?” 5. ”Should we have dinner in Alaska or Russia?” 4. “Will she hunt and shoot the main course?” 3. “63 grand? That’s nearly half of her weekly wardrobe budget!” Remember that reference? 2. “Is there valet parking for my snowmobile?” 1. “Will I be done in time to get to the ‘Fire Dave’ rally?” G-20 LEADERS MEET during the second plenary session at the G-20 summit, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, in Pittsburgh. AP photo summit in a year – as a big success. “There was unanimity around the table that the errors of the past won’t happen again,” said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “The old system of international economic cooperation is over. The new system, as of today, has begun,” said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, referring to a decision to enhance the status for the Group of 20 to make it the lead group for dealing with future international economic issues, eclipsing the older, Western-dominated Group of Eight. “I have the impression that we are on a successful path,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, before leaving Pittsburgh to fly back to Berlin, where she faces German voters on Sunday. They moved to require members to subject their economic policies to the scrutiny of a peer review process that would determine whether they were “collectively consistent” with sustainable global growth. They promised tighter and more coordinated financial regulation. And, repeating pledges from G-20 summits in November and April, when financial panic was rampant, they vowed anew to “reject protectionism in all its forms.” They also went along with Obama’s push for a pledge to withdraw government subsidies from fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas linked to global warming. While issuing lofty vows, the leaders failed to define how to accomplish many of them and were quickly back to bickering Swiss arrest famous director, Polanski, on U.S. request in sex case ZURICH (AP) – Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police for possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday. Polanski was flying in to receive an honorary award at the Zurich Film Festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-yearold around the world since 2005. “There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming,” ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. “That’s why he was taken into custody.” Balmer said the U.S. would now be given time to make a formal extradition request. Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl. The director of such classic films as “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby” has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges’ refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it. The Swiss statement said Polanski was officially in “provisional detention for extradition,” but added that he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said. Polanski has faced a U.S. arrest request since 1978 and has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish. He received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie “The Pianist.” He was not extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under the U.S.’s treaties with the country. In France, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was “dumbfounded” by Polanski’s arrest, adding that he “strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them.” Mitterrand’s ministry said Sunday in a statement that he is in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, “who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister’s hope that the situation can be quickly resolved.” A native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, Polanski escaped Krakow’s Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. He worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his “Knife in the Water.” Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic “Rosemary’s Baby” in 1968. But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months preg- - See JUSTICE, page 14 over details. They did not suggest, for instance, how the peer review process would be enforced. And they failed to mention that previous pledges to avoid protectionism had been ignored by nearly all 20 members. Disagreements over whether China should gain voting strength in the International Monetary Fund at the expense of European nations and over global warming language marred the summit. Obama talked about actions of the G-20 as creating or saving “millions of jobs.” Yet the U.S. economy alone has lost 3.1 million jobs since January when Obama took office. Since the recession started in December, 2007, some 6.9 million jobs have disappeared. The group agreed to support changes in the makeup of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The final statement said voting powers in the IMF “should reflect the relative weights of its members in the world economy, which have changed substantially in view of the strong growth in dynamic emerging market and developing countries.” Now, developed industrialized nations wield about 57 percent of the voting rights in the IMF to about 43 percent for developing nations. The G-20 leaders called for shifting shares from developed powers to emerging ones by at least 5 percentage points. They called for a similar shift at the World Bank. European countries, particularly France and Britain, have been resisting such changes. Said Obama: “We brought the global economy back from the brink. We laid the groundwork today for long term prosperity.” “Pittsburgh was a perfect venue for this work,” Obama said of the one-time despairing Rust Belt city. “This community has known its share of hard times. It picked itself up and dusted itself off. It serves as a model for turning the page to a 21st century.” Obama brushed off demonstrations in the city. He said they were mild compared with some in the past at international gatherings. “I fundamentally disagree with their view that the free market is the source of all ills,” he said. Leaping the bull A ‘Recortador’ Jumps over a bull in a bull-leaping contest show at the Plaza Monumental bullring in Barcelona, Spain, Friday Sept. 25. AP photo |